New Camera!!!

Earlier this year we broke our Point and Shoot camera. I can't even remember when we used it last. I have been taking tons and TONS of photos on my iphone, transferring them to the computer and deleting them so I can take more. The iphone has been fabulous and a real life saver for my business. I take so many product photos and they need to be really good to catch the eye of my customers. So one of my business goals for this year was to buy a DSLR. I knew I was ready to learn how to change settings and manually make my pictures better. I also knew I needed something way faster than a point and shoot to get pictures of my kids. Anyway, September was a huge month for Rachelle-isms. I did two craft shows (one I signed up for 2 days before it started) and I received 2 wholesale orders, plus my normal online orders (which has been dramatically increasing). Altogether, I was able to save up enough to buy this Canon EOS Rebel T3. Apparently, it isn't going to be made anymore and I got a great deal for it. I don't know how to use it well and I am dying to talk to my photographer friends about teaching me stuff. Although, I have a feeling that I need to buy a macro lens right away. I cannot take any good pics of my jewelry yet and am still relying on my iphone for those great close ups.

Anyway, the lens I have is fabulous for pictures of my kids and in one week, I have already taken over 400 pictures of them. Here are some of my top favs. I'm so sorry to bombard you with family photos, but ... I LOVE my new camera!

My very first photo with the Canon (auto setting)

I love this one of William. I wouldn't know how to recreate it though.

Goofy Face

Life with a crawling baby. Everything goes in her mouth.

This photo was a complete accident .... And I LOVE it!!! 

She loved the swing set!

Too many pics yet?

Don't you love his smile?

Alright ... I'm all finished ... Just needed to catch you up on months of no blogging. :)

Anna's 7 Month Post

Happy 7 Months Old, Anna!

I figure I need to write this down quick before I forget. You are almost mobile! You roll EVERYWHERE! I've caught under things, on top of things ... and just now saw you go from laying down to sitting up. You also just started to get up on hands and knees and start rocking. I love it! You will be crawling soon enough. Maybe next month! I keep wondering when your top teeth are going to come through. I've seen them trying to pop through for what seems like weeks. I can even see the white through your gums, but they haven't cut yet. Oh, well. I expect there will be one tear filled night soon and then it will be over. :) What a big girl. Daddy keeps telling you to slow down. You love to copy us ... you have already said "Dada" but of course you don't know what you are saying. Your brother pays more and more attention to you each month. I think he finds that you are growing more interesting ... although it comes with him screaming at you for taking his toys.

I am so proud of you. But I wonder what you will think of me when you are an adult. I struggle so much with my own mother (your memere) ... will you and I be like this in 20+ years? Will there be redemption in our story? I hope so. Sins are passed down from generation to generation, but is graced also passed down? Even now as I write this is a major conflict in America. Yet another young, unarmed black man has been killed by a police officer. This story is old. Our country has long since treated black men and women with contempt. Yes, we don't have slavery. And yes, we don't have segregation, but our troubles and sins are far from over. We carry on the same fear, the same prejudice, the same avoidance. Generation after generation continues to hurt a major people group in our nation. Ah ... but I regress. I will tell you about all that one day. It will be part of your upbringing and schooling. But I do wonder if each generation can find more redemption than the previous generation. Lord, place yourself firmly in our midst. Allow difficult change and repentance grow in my little family. We need you so much! Please be in little Anna's heart and help her to see her need of you even as she sees just how much her momma is full of sin and needs you to.

I love you darling girl!
Your Momma

You can't tell them apart can you???

You can't tell them apart can you? I'll give you a hint ... Anna is wearing pink socks and William is wearing blue socks. You are welcome!

 Oh, and William is the wiggly one. He could NOT stay still for these photos! 

Bribing Anna with cheerios worked, but not for William. Silly boy. 

Anna is 4 months old .... 5 months old .... 6 months old???

Dear Anna,

I feel like I JUST wrote to you last week! Where did last month go? Sure enough you are growing again. I had to pull your bouncy seat down from the attic because you don't like laying down anymore. You want to sit up and see the whole world. I love watching you play with toys because you actually can reach out and grab things and pull them to your mouth. You only get the toys about half the time, but I'm rooting for you! You probably don't notice too much, but William has taken an interest in you for the first time in your short life. He asks about you ALL the time. When he wakes up in the morning, he won't let me leave the room without getting you too. And when we leave to go out, he always tries to grab your carseat and bring you. I think he fears I might leave you at home one day. Isn't he such a nice big brother? He also started touching you and feeling your head. Sorry about him poking you in the eye. I'm trying to help him learn to be gentle. I can't wait til you can both play with each other.

4 months old (above) ..................................... 5 months old (below)

Dear Anna,

You are now 6 months old, little girl, and I haven't even written about you being 5 months old. Daddy says you need to slow down. You are now begging for solid food every day and are gobbling it up in seconds. You just said "dada" several times this morning with my prompting. AND you are super close to sitting on your own. You can sit for whole minutes at a time, but still fall over eventually. You are truly a delight to everyone around you. You smile so easily and I love your little laugh.

 6 month photos

Giveaway

 I'm sure many of you will have seen the Necklace giveaway that I did this Month. I was extraordinarily honored to share in the struggles and pain of the women who wrote to me. It was honestly very hard to read most of them. Twelve women wrote on the first day and as I was reading them and crying, my mom texted me that my grandfather was dying. I think I had to remove myself from a lot of the stories after that. 

The response to my giveaway was so big that I had to cut it off a lot sooner than I planned. I am very sorry to anyone who didn't receive one. I would like to do another giveaway some time down the road. 

I found a really neat poem called Little Snowdrop that I included on my packaging. I think I will keep using these in the future.

I found some more kraft labels to match my business card labels and used them for the finishing touch of my packaging.

They are finally ready to be shipped! It has been a long hard month, but it was very rewarding and I will look forward to doing it again next year.

July Update: I wrote this awhile ago, but have only gotten around to posting it now. Thank you so much for honoring me with your stories. In the last 3 months since I did this giveaway, my business has grown dramatically. I have been honored to listen to dozens of women share their heartbreaking stories and ask me to make them a necklace. I decided to write a little bit of my story on my Etsy listings and let women know that they can trust me and they aren't alone in their suffering. It is difficult to get excited about this new development. For every order I get, my heart breaks even more. I want to give everyone more than a necklace. I want to give them hope and peace. My greatest hope is that my nest necklaces do just that. The only other thing I can give is my tears and a listening ear. The world is full of women suffering in silence and I also hope that the necklaces allow women the honor of speaking about their precious children. 

Thank you again, 

Rachelle

www.rachelle-isms.com

Rough night = _______

I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. I have a ton of pictures taken, but no time to write about them. So here is a quick post.

Last night Anna had a rough night. I think I woke up to her crying 5-6 times. She has this problem of rolling over and can't fall asleep on her back. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but then this morning .....


HELLO TOOTH #1!!! And #2 is coming in too. :) What a big girl!

I don't have any pics of the tooth because she just cut though last night, but here are some other pics from today. I love her onesie!

Anna is 3 Months Old

Dear Anna, 

This photo was taken the day before you turned 3 months old. Our camera just broke so we are recording your growth with my phone these days. I can tell that you are growing taller and thinning out. Your face is longer and even though your legs are still chubby, your belly is thinner. I don't think you are close to sitting on your own, but your neck sure is strong and you kick your feet constantly. William just started to pay attention to you a bit. He thinks the bubbles you make with your mouth are cool. Your hair is getting so long. I tried putting it in a ponytail the other day, but I guess I was just hurting you. Poor baby Anna. I'm sorry.

I've been thinking a lot about me and Daddy lately. So I thought I'd give you some advice on marriage. Your mommy and daddy aren't perfect and we have conflict that you probably don't see. But some of the things I am thankful for in our marriage is our ability to repent and apologize to each other. Make sure, when you are looking for your lifelong companion, that you look for a man that will tell you that he is sorry, ask for forgiveness and work on changing. Which leads me to my next point. Don't expect your marriage or your spouse to change very fast. In fact, NEVER marry hoping your spouse will change. Accept them for who they are but look to inspire them to be all that God wants them to be. As a wife, you have the unique honor to know your husband in ways that no one else ever will know him. Remember to take that honor seriously and with fear and trembling. With that knowledge you have the ability to either tear him down or build him up. When you are upset and angry or hurt, take as much time as you need think about what you want to say so that you do not lose his trust in you or hurt him out of your own hurt. My greatest wish for you and your brother is to see my need and Daddy's need for Jesus. We are broken, so very broken. My hope for my marriage is that God will be glorified as He transforms and redeems our brokenness.

I love you, sweet girl. You are such a joy to me. I love your smiles and I am praying for you and your future husband. May God bless you.

Your Mommy